Uther's Oversight
by Aurora077
Summary: Uther should have seen this coming. He really should have. In which Uther, for all of his planning and secrecy, did not foresee this complication. These children would be the death of him.


Title: Uther's Oversight

Summary: Uther should have seen this coming. He really should have. In which Uther, for all of his planning and secrecy, did not foresee this complication. These children would be the death of him.

Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC and sadly not me.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Uther looked at the children playing happily (well happily was a stretch; they were treating their training as a serious competition but Uther was seeing them through the lens of a proud dad) and smiled. He had hoped that Morgana and Arthur would get along and so far it seemed to be going splendidly. The 10 year old girl could be wilful and he chuckled at the way she roped his son into training with her. He hadn't initially wanted her to play with swords but she had been adamant and he eventually gave in much to the displeasure of Arthur who still maintained girls didn't belong on the training grounds as they didn't fight. He suppressed a smile when she knocked the boy flat on his butt and he insisted that he had let her win to cover his embarrassment.

His son would improve he knew. At the moment he was younger than Morgana, who was a good head taller than him and had longer, more graceful limbs. After the death of Gorlois and Vivienne's disappearance the girl had become his ward. He would do anything to see her happy and if beating his son at swordplay was giving her joy then who was he to take that away from her. Eventually she would become accustomed to the castle and find other things to occupy her time. Maybe she would make some female friends as well. It would be good for her to have other people to be close to. The loss of her parents had hit her hard after all and she was in a new place surrounded by new people.

Uther, being so lost in his thoughts, had failed to take in the heated discussion that was going on in front of him. He broke from his thoughts abruptly, feeling two pairs of eyes on him, much closer too than they had been previously. They had startled him.

"Are you done for the day then?" he asked, clearing his throat to cover up his momentary lapse of concentration.

"Yes we are! And I won!" Morgana said, smugly looking at Arthur.

"No you didn't, I _let_ you win!" Arthur said vehemently, pouting when Morgana simply smirked at him. She wasn't going to continue that pointless argument. They had just been over that after all.

"Now now Arthur there is no shame in losing to someone more skilled than you," his father replied and the boy's sulk deepened.

"But now I have to marry her!" he cried.

Uther's heart skipped a beat.

"What did you say?" he said, voice almost a whisper.

"He has to marry me," Morgana stated simply.

"Why would you say that?" Uther choked out.

"Because he bet me that if I managed to actually beat him then I would get to be his queen," she said triumphantly, knowing that Arthur had only said that because he believed that as a girl she would never be able to beat him.

His son, who was turning bright red, nodded, "I made a promise father so I have to keep it."

"Y..you're both a little young for marriage don't you think?" Uther was saying, trying to calm himself and not show the children any signs of the panic attack he was close to having. He was internally reprimanding himself. _How_ could he not have foreseen something like this? Two young children of the opposite sex were growing up together. One or both of them was likely to have formed a crush at some point. Normally it wouldn't be a problem; she was the king's ward after all. Nobody else would see an issue with it. In fact there were many who might encourage the match.

Except...

They didn't know what he knew.

Because you see, Morgana was not really his ward.

She was his daughter.

His daughter who was looking up at him as if he were daft.

"Well, of course we're young now," she was saying, "But when we get older and Arthur becomes king he will make me his queen." She said it decisively and Arthur was there behind her meekly nodding along.

Uther felt faint. How was he to dissuade them of this notion? Morgana was wilful and stubborn, much like himself though he hated to admit it, and Arthur was ridiculously noble (especially for one so young), like his mother. He feared that the more he tried to discourage them the more they would stick to their decision. What logical reason could he give them after all for why they couldn't like each other like that let alone get married to each other? Plus they were young now but what if they actually developed real feelings as they grew older? Then what? He had no desire to hurt them but he would have to keep them apart if that ever happened. He would be breaking both of his children's hearts.

He massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming along with all of his thoughts.

"Father are you okay?" Arthur asked timidly.

"I'm fine my son," he replied, suddenly weary.

"Maybe you should go and rest uncle," Morgana said, a hint of worry in her young eyes.

"Yes, yes I think I should," Uther agreed. He would have lots of thinking to do after all. His bedchamber seemed like the place to be at the moment. But he would stop in at the physician's quarters first. He'd need something for this headache that was blooming behind his temples. He couldn't even ask the old man for advice this time given that this was one secret he had not divulged to anyone, not even his old friend.

"You two make sure to head in soon," he told them, as he left the grounds.

"We will father," promised Arthur.

"Yes we are done here today," agreed Morgana, who continued, oblivious to the effect her words would have on Uther, "We do have a wedding to plan after all."

Uther paled. Maybe he needed something stronger for this headache. His children would be the death of him, he just knew it.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This is my first ever Merlin fic. Hope you guys liked it! Reviews would be welcome.

This plot bunny came to me when I was just thinking of that tension between them in the first season and how she had to accompany Arthur to some one of those fancy feasts. Gwen I think had also said something about her possibly being queen one day, obviously through marriage to Arthur. I just kept wondering what Uther would do if they actually ended up liking each other.


End file.
